The following relates to the nuclear reactor arts, nuclear power generation arts, nuclear reactor control arts, nuclear reactor human-machine interface (HMI) arts, and related arts.
Nuclear power plants are highly complex and include numerous systems to ensure safe operation. By way of illustrative example, a typical nuclear power plant employing a pressurized water reactor (PWR) includes: the nuclear reactor containing a nuclear reactor core comprising fissile material (e.g. 235U) immersed in primary coolant water and ancillary components such as a pressurizer and reactor coolant pumps (RCPs); a control rod drive system including control rods, control rod drive mechanisms (CRDMS) and ancillary components designed to insert neutron-absorbing control rods into the nuclear reactor core to extinguish the nuclear chain reaction (either during normal shutdown, e.g. for refueling, or in response to an abnormal condition, i.e. a scram); a steam generator in which primary coolant heats secondary coolant to generate steam; a turbine driven by the steam; an electric generator turned by the turbine to generate electricity; a complex switchyard providing the circuitry to couple the output of the generator to an external electric grid; a condenser for condensing the steam; piping with valving and ancillary components for conducting feedwater and steam between the various components; one or (typically) more house electrical systems for providing electrical power to the RCPs and other electrically driven components; backup power sources (typically diesel generators and batteries); an emergency core cooling system (ECCS) to dissipate residual heat still generated by the nuclear reactor core after shutdown of the chain reaction; ancillary cooling water systems supplying components such as the condenser; and so forth. A boiling water reactor (BWR) is similar, except that in a BWR primary coolant boils in the pressure vessel and directly drives the turbine. These numerous systems interact with one another. A malfunction of one component may trigger responses by other systems, and/or may call for the operator to perform certain operations in response to the malfunction.
Existing control rooms for nuclear power plants typically include a control panel for each component, sub-system, or other operational unit. The resulting layout is unwieldy, including numerous control panels with typically dozens of video display units (VDUs) along with additional indicator lights, and various operator controls such as touch-screen VDU interfaces along with switches, buttons, and so forth. The control panels are arranged to form a horseshoe-shaped arc of about 90° or larger, and inside of this arc further control panels are installed as bench boards. These vertical and bench-mounted control panels include readout displays, indicators, and controls for all components, valves, electrical switches, circuit breakers, piping, and so forth. The arced configuration enables an operator at the controls (OATC) to view all controls simultaneously or with a small turn to the left or right. Substantial effort has been expended in optimizing control room ergonomics, for example by placing the most critical and/or frequently used control panels near the center of the arc. The VDUs are typically designated as safety- or non-safety related, with usually around a dozen safety-related VDUs near the center of the arc or at centrally located bench boards, and the two dozen or more non-safety related VDUs distributed around the periphery.
Nonetheless, the control room is complex. A staff of five or more human operators is usually required around the clock. Response to a given situation may require accessing several control panels, which may be located at different places along the vertical arc and/or at different bench boards. When an abnormal situation arises, it typically results in numerous alarms being set off at various control panels associated with the various components affected by the abnormal situation. One (or possibly more) alarm indicates the “root cause” of the abnormal situation, while the other alarms indicate various automated responses to the root cause, consequent operational deviations, or additional problems triggered by the root cause. For example, a failure of the condenser will cause automated shutdown of the turbine, interrupts the steam flow, trips the reactor and brings the ECCS online; and, as further consequences reactor pressure and temperature likely will rise and various electrical systems may also react. Each of these events is unusual and generates an alarm, and this cascade of alarms occurs over a relatively short time interval, with some alarms activating almost simultaneously from the operators' point of view. The on-site human operators then confer to decipher the sequence of events that have led to these alarms, and agree upon appropriate remedial action. In making the diagnosis, operators may need to move around the control room to review various control panels. Yet, operator response should be swift to alleviate the abnormal situation. Any error in diagnosing the root cause may result in incorrect remedial action which can delay resolution of the root cause and may possibly introduce further problems.
Disclosed herein are improvements that provide various benefits that will become apparent to the skilled artisan upon reading the following.